Should this place have a census that names folk? .....

[Dennis]

Just thought I'd ask if this was fair to make available. I'd done a census search on scotlandspeople and one of the places that came back with a matching name ( not in my tree, just a same name ) was called 'Magadalene Institution'. It didn't hit me what the purpose of the place was until I googled for it, then I wondered if it was common to essentially post the names of the 'inmates' on the front door of the place.

dennis

[AndrewP]

My understanding is that the census was to list everybody in the land by name and other pertinient details. This included people living in all manner of institutions - hospitals of all sorts, jails, poorhouses, orphanages et cetera.

The Magdalene Institution / Asylum fitted in amongst these categories as it was home to a number of people. The 'fairness' applied was that all people were included regardless of their situation or where they were staying.

One descriptrive webpage about the Glasgow Magdelene Asylum / Institution can be found at http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/nov2000.html

The Magdalene Institution has a long and interesting history. The original Glasgow Magdalene Asylum was set up in 1812 in response to increasing worries regarding prostitution, venereal diseases and the moral health of the country. For the powers that be the obvious way to combat these ills was to incarcerate women, not in a punitive institution but in a 'voluntary' institution such as the Magdalene Asylum. As the biblical reference in the name suggests the institute was based on the premise that these women could be redeemed and 'saved' from their life of immorality and possible early death. The women in the asylum were generally termed as prostitutes; however, it should be noted that this term was used in a very loose manner encompassing not only women who sold sex for money but also single mothers, socialists, mill girls and girls dressed 'immorally'.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[DavidWW]

Just thought I'd ask if this was fair to make available. I'd done a census search on scotlandspeople and one of the places that came back with a matching name ( not in my tree, just a same name ) was called 'Magadalene Institution'. It didn't hit me what the purpose of the place was until I googled for it, then I wondered if it was common to essentially post the names of the 'inmates' on the front door of the place.

dennis

Dennis

But remember that the detailed census info would not have become available until the closure period lapsed, - depending on the census involved this could have been anywhere between 70 and 100 years.

Davie